Game of Monsters - 98 (Patreon)

Disclaimer: I don’t own Highschool DxD.

I Become Colder but Free as a Bird

“It’s so beautiful,” Kunou breathed out as Joshua showed her, through illusions, sights that he’d come across in his… past life, as it were. He showed her places he’d visited with his parents back before that fateful day that had thrown everything in disarray.

His hand clasped around the locket over his chest, trying to pull on his memories as best he could. He remembered, but those times felt so far away that he had to make an honest effort to try and conjure them up. He managed though, and he loved how much Kunou loved them. He wasn’t a big fan of touristic stuff, but he would freely admit that the sights themselves were amazing.

“Maybe I can take you to some of these places, once the world is safer or I place so many defenses over them that nobody will have to worry about a thing,” Joshua told her, drawing big, excited eyes towards him. If there was any doubt about that happening before, it was thrown out the window just by looking at Kunou.

At least, until her enthusiasm died.

“It’s a shame mom can’t come with us if we go,” the girl mumbled, and Joshua saw Yasaka’s ears dropping. It wasn’t often that the subject came up, but he could tell that it bothered both of them, for very obvious reasons. It bothered him too, but more due to how it affected them than anything else.

An upset Kunou was awful, but an upset Yasaka was very close too.

Nevermind when it was both of them together.

“Hm, maybe I can do something about that too,” he commented. It was careless of him, impulsive, but he said it regardless, because he meant it. Or, at least, he meant for that to be true. He didn’t know how possible it was to accomplish, but people had thought it was impossible to replicate the effects of Devil Bloodlines and there he was…

“Really?” Kunou asked, visibly and positively shocked.

“Really,” he replied, adding more confidence to his tone.

It should be possible, he supposed. Yasaka was drawing from the leylines in Kyoto, a blessing from her patrons that empowered her to the point where she could match them. Now, he was not very familiar with leylines, but his Magic Sense was at a high enough level that he’d started sensing them.

[Magic Sense - Lvl 66/150

Determines the user’s ability to sense magical energy and spells.

Precision is determined by Skill Level.

Increases the range of Magic Sense by 198%.]

Sure, he wasn’t about to start delving into that, but he could feel them. Soon, maybe, he could start applying that and the knowledge he had on them to his spells, maybe. It hadn’t taken him long to start planning some wards, hexes and boons that might benefit greatly from that.

Now, in regards to the problem at heart, he knew that Yasaka was directly connected to the leylines in Kyoto, which was why she couldn't move far from the place. The further she got, the more it strained that connection and the less power she got from her blessing. The concept was simple enough, but a solution to that would be anything but simple.

Joshua had some ideas though, but to even consider them he’d have to start delving into how to work with leylines at all. He could do that, but… Normally, he was all for adding more projects. Every new project he came up with was great, and he was excited for it, but… He was starting a lot of ideas and few of them were getting anywhere.

Then again, he was dedicating a great deal of his time to the Phoenix Spell considering its… urgency. Once that was done, maybe he could start giving more attention to some of his other ideas. That’d be great, he imagined.

“Joshua, there’s no need to push yourself-”

“No need to worry,” he interrupted, giving Yasaka a grin. “I know there’s no need. But I want to do it. No promises on when I’ll manage, but I’ll work on it,” he said, finishing as he turned towards Kunou. “You, your mother and I will be going wherever you want eventually, ok?”

“You are the best, dad!” the little girl exclaimed, all but rocketing towards his torso and wrapping her little arms around him. It made his smile a lot softer and warmer. Kunou was, perhaps ironically, the person that helped him the most, without even trying. In a time when he felt so… cold with the attacks at Hexennacht and the pressure to work on the Phoenix Spell on top of the many other things he had to get done every day… Spending time with Kunou was the one time when he felt the most relaxed.

Sure, the cafe was nice, as was the show with Serafall and so on, but Kunou did a much better job than any of those. She was just so… pure and full of joy that it spread over to Joshua whenever he was with her. It was partly why he spoiled her so much. Being a father, being a disciplinarian, was hard. So, as long as he didn’t really need to put his foot down, he wouldn't. He was just lucky that Kunou was such a good girl or he might have been in trouble with how much she had him wrapped around her little finger.

“Thank you, Joshua,” Yasaka told him and when he looked up, she had one of the most beautiful smiles on her face. He’d seen one or two of those on her face before, but he was pretty sure they would never stop being such mesmerizing sights. ‘Like mother, like daughter,’ he thought wryly, realizing that he was going to win few situations with those two.

He felt the usual insecurities rear their ugly heads once more, but he ignored them. It was nothing, after all, just him doing a favor for a friend. Nothing else…

And yet, it was getting more and more difficult to push those thoughts aside.

“Anything for you two,” he said, smiling down at Kunou, who beamed back, and missing the pink that appeared in Yasaka’s face.

[}-o-{]

[Eliphas Levi]

He knew he wasn’t great at magic, he knew that very well.

Some people were born with talents, things that came much easier to them than they did most other people. Some people, however, were born with the opposite. Such was the case of Eliphas, or Levi, as he preferred to be called. After all, ever since he could remember, his control of magic had been lacking.

So, he’d done the next best thing. He’d read, he’d researched, he’d studied. His casting might be atrocious, but if he was confident in anything, it was in his theoretical knowledge. Levi had dedicated his every breath to that after all.

It had been for naught.

The supernatural world wasn’t a place that took kindly to the untalented, and especially so for the powerless. He might have had better luck trying to wield a sword or training his body or something along those lines. Or maybe having a different approach to his stay in the supernatural world… Maybe even go to the mundane side.

But Levi didn’t want any of that.

After all, he loved magic.

Everything about it was fascinating and it would forever hurt him that he couldn’t perform the art that he loved so much to even decent standards. However, that hadn’t stopped him from delving as deep as he could manage through the theoretical side. If there was one thing Levi could say about himself it was that he understood magic. He understood the vague and sometimes changing laws of it. He understood the calculations necessary for it. He understood all of it.

If his control over his magic wasn’t such a fucking mess…

But it was and there was nothing to do about that.

Thus, Levi had resigned himself to never be able to reach very far into things. He’d been almost fine with that too. He’d accepted his place in the world and decided to try and make the most of it. If he could just attach himself to a good enough magician and do research for them as an assistant, maybe that would be enough.

But what magician wanted someone that was practically a magical cripple associated with them?

None, that’s who.

That is, until Levi had managed to ace the examinations and get a place in one Joshua Davis’ class. Some people had been against that, of course. Why not send someone more capable, right? However, through some strokes of luck and what felt to him like fate at that point in his life, he managed to stay in the list of members that would attend that class.

Things had gone… Not quite so good for some time, of course, but that was expected. Even if the teacher was better and all, Levi didn’t stop being who he was and he messed up more spells than he got right. Professor Davis had noticed his good work with the circles but the messy casting had kept the man’s attention away.

One day, however, Dion Fortune joined the class and it was Levi’s time to shine, even if he hadn’t known that at the time. He’d taught the woman as best he could, pouring his everything into getting the knowledge he had to the woman’s brain. And he had succeeded, evidently, because she caught up surprisingly quickly, even with all the help he offered.

Another talented person, he had lamented. He knew Dion would get Professor Davis’ attention and join the growing group of stars with Ordinton, Karin and Pickingill. What he hadn’t expected, however, was that the attention of the teacher was thrown his way too.

Suddenly, Professor Davis seemed to be paying more attention to his written work and less to his casting. There was a different look on the man’s eyes whenever he regarded Levi. The student recognized it as the same look he’d get whenever a new piece of information changed his view on something.

And it hadn’t stopped there.

“So, what do you think?” Professor Davis asked, sitting across from him, legs crossed and leaning back as if what they were doing was nothing special. Although, to be fair, it probably wasn’t too important for the man. Certainly not as important as it was for Levi, the student imagined.

It wasn’t every day that a magic teacher took a student aside and started asking more directed questions. It wasn’t everyday that a teacher did anything other than just explaining and doing what was strictly necessary, but especially so to take a student aside like Davis had done with Levi. Well, not if they weren’t going to take the student as an apprentice or something along those lines.

While Levi doubted he was about to get an apprenticeship with the man that seemed to be able to stand up against Longinus, he also knew that he was being given a chance. He was being offered the one chance he’d likely ever have to reach higher than the rock bottom he’d expected throughout his whole life.

“Levi,” Professor Davis called then, as he continued reading as if his life depended on it. He needed to use every scrap of knowledge he’d ever gotten. This is what he had been working for throughout his whole life. “What… do you think?” his teacher repeated more pointedly but still kindly, which was more than Levi could say about any teacher he’d had before.

“I think it’s possible that it might work,” he said, cursing the hesitation that bled into his voice. “Probably will need more than old and new calculations. Maybe some different circle languages? The Nordic runes, the Egyption hieroglyphs and so on. The more the better… er, sir.”

“I see,” Professor Davis mumbled, looking at Levi but not really seeing him. Instead, the student could tell that the man was anywhere but there, his mind was elsewhere, considering possibilities and digging up information.

He’d know about that.

“Yes, I think you might be right. I’ll have to do some research on that,” Professor Davis added then. “Is there anything I can do to pay for you to look into this more deeply? It’d help to have another mind looking into this other than my own, compare notes and such.”

Levi almost couldn’t believe it.

However, he would be an idiot to pass up such an opportunity.

“I… I can’t cast well,” Levi said hesitantly. “All I’ve wanted in my life is to… Well, do research, study magic. So, I thought I could maybe do that if I found a magician that would work with me, take me in as an assistant or something like that.”

“Hm… I see… I think I can do something for you, Levi,” Professor Davis replied and Levi felt hope well up in him.

Surely the man could put a good word for him with one of his students, right? One word from Joshua Davis himself and any of those would bend over backwards, Levi knew. Maybe he could get what he’d always wanted. Maybe he could do better than getting scraps and mockery.

[}-o-{]

[Sona Sitri]

She knew something was going on as soon as she heard the whispers spreading.

Classes had ended, students were going about their business in the halls and outside. Even with that in mind, the volume of the crowd was much higher than usual. With a frown, she strained her ears, some magic was added then and-

She only needed a handful of the words used to know what was going on. It seemed that Joshua had come for a visit, which was strange. Although, by the sounds of it, the female population of Kuoh Academy didn’t mind, at all. Amusing herself, Sona wondered what the man thought of that, if he even noticed. If he didn’t, then it’d be even more funny to know how he’d react to that knowledge.

‘What does Joshua want though?’ she wondered with a slight frown as she pushed up her glasses. There was no reason for the man to drop by personally. Rias and him met up often enough that any message could have been sent through her. Sona herself dropped by at his cafe from time to time too with the other members of the Student Council.

A familiar giggle answered that question for her and Sona groaned.

From her side, Tsubaki snorted before visibly trying to contain her amusement and failing miserably. Some friend and Queen she had. She’d make sure to get revenge for that later. Maybe some teasing in regards to her crush on Kiba or extra work… Or both, both was good.

It seemed that there’d be even more rumors circulating about Joshua being her brother-in-law, which was both amusing and annoying at the same time.

“So-tan~!” her sister exclaimed, all but kicking the door open. “Your most beautiful sister is here!”

“Aren’t you her only sister?” Joshua asked flatly, raising an eyebrow at Sona’s sister.

“Your point?” Serafall asked back, beaming all the while. As for Sona herself, well… She was rather shocked by an unexpected development in the already impromptu visit that her sister and Joshua had apparently decided on. So much so, that she broke her carefully crafted professional expression and let her eyes widen dramatically.

“Yeah, I asked her to dress normally,” Joshua offered with a slight smile that made it so that Sona fully understood why so many of her fellow students called it a good day when the man dropped by the school. “I thought you’d appreciate that. I kind of need a favor and I wanted to make things smooth… Especially since she wanted to tag along.”

“Joshua, don’t be a meanie,” Serafall protested with a pout.

There were several things to take out of that short interaction, at least for Sona. For one, that her sister had actually listened when someone told her to not wear her magical girl costume. She barely took the thing off for some of her most serious and formal meetings for her job and that wasn’t even a sure thing.

For another, she hadn’t called Joshua by the nickname she gave him for a while. It had taken Sona an embarrassingly long time to notice that, but it had happened. Once more, she usually reserved that privilege for people that were important and powerful enough for her sister to respect them.

Sona knew, however, that Joshua didn’t quite fit in the exception zone.

For sure, Joshua Davis was a man that was growing more and more known in the supernatural. His prowess as a warder was cemented more and more with the passing of time. Between his accomplishment at defeating a Longinus and stalling another and the much more public displays he did for his classes at House of Water, the general population was getting to hear his name quite a bit.

On top of that, there were many other pieces of information floating around in regards to the man. Some of them Sona knew to be true, some of them she didn’t. The same could be said for most people, she imagined. Rumors did hold some weight in the supernatural world, however. It was a well known fact that there was always some truth to those and nobody would spread baseless rumors for the prowess of a random human that didn’t have any backing when he started off.

Even with all that, Joshua Davis still wasn’t high enough to be put in the same category as faction leaders, that was for sure.

So, Sona confirmed once again that, indeed, the man had managed to catch the interest of her sister.

It was something she’d known for a while, but it didn’t stop being interesting and a little surprising. Not just anyone could catch Serafall’s attention, after all. It took more than a pretty face and some power to do that. It was something that Sona had seen happen once or twice, but none of those poor souls had lasted as long as Joshua, not even close.

“And I do appreciate it,” Sona told him with a nod, dismissing the random trains of thought of her brain. “So, what is it that you need from me specifically?” she asked curiously.

“I have another student for you,” he said, and Sona blinked. “And one of my students, I think you would like him.”

[}-o-{]

[Raynare]

“Don’t these people have defenses in place?” she asked, waving her hand to the side as one would to scare off a fly. It was much more than that, however, as a light bolt shot off, killing a Hexennacht member that had been aiming a spell at Mittelt. She had never been much of a team player, but needs must so she’d learned while sparring against the absolute beasts that Davis called familiars.

“They do,” the magician that held her metaphorical leash answered, looking almost bored as his familiars tore the place apart with the Fallen helping. How the man had managed to turn already monstrous things even more so, Raynare didn’t know and she honestly wasn’t sure she wanted to know. “They had wards, but they were honestly quite… sad.”

Sad.

Davis thought the wards were sad. Davis thought the wards of a magician association that could hide away from the rest of the world well enough to not be destroyed by the many enemies it surely had amassed were… sad, of all things. Raynare wasn’t sure why she was even surprised. All things considered, she’d come to acknowledge the fact that Davis’ mind just worked differently from the normal person.

“My wards took care of theirs,” the man said then, as if that explained anything. How had he even done such a thing? He hadn’t used spells specifically made to break down wards such as the Spell Breaker branch. No, he’d used other wards to break through. How did that even work? How was that even possible?

“It’s like you become even more monstrous with every second we spend with you,” Mittelt commented and Raynare silently agreed, even if she didn’t want to voice such a thing. Even when he was calm and enjoying himself, Davis managed to put a touch of fear in their hearts. There was something very unnerving to the way he seemed to have mentally scarred Kalawarna without actually doing anything and the power they knew he wielded and then seeing him…

Petting Cheshire like she was a common house cat.

Sometimes, they could almost forget that they were under the “care” of a man that could squash them like bugs under the heavy defenses of his home. Sometimes, they could almost feel free, unburdened by the knowledge that their lives hung by a thread. That was even scarier than anything else. Was that Davis’ play? To wait until they let their guards down and messed up?

He seemed too nice for that, but Raynare would take absolutely no risks.

“This has gone on for long enough,” a grave voice said and she turned to regard another magician. He wasn’t very distinctive from the rest, except that he felt vaguely strong and he looked old, with the old school robes to match. “I think you’ve insulted our organization for long enough.”

Then, the man raised a wrinkled hand, a spell formed and Raynare prepared herself to put a shield between her and the man. It was unnecessary, however, since as soon as the circle was ready and the attack was about to come… The entire thing crumbled to pieces. The light of the magical construct became shining specks in the air, vanishing in the wind.

“You look strong,” Davis commented idly, walking towards the now visibly confused and disturbed old man. “I think I can step in this time. I have spells to try, after all. Hey, Kalwarna!” he called then, making the blue-haired woman stand straight and stiff, just like she did every time the man directed his attention to her in more than a passing glance. “Look closely… This is Project Winter.”

With that ominous announcement, he got even more attention from all three Fallen, while his familiars wreaked havoc on those magicians that hadn’t stopped fighting with the arrival of the old member of their association. Mittelt and Raynare herself had heard about the Season Projects that Davis had threatened Kalawarna with. They only knew about the one, Spring, but if Winter was anything like that one…

Davis brought his hand up in front of him, pointing at the old magician…

And nothing happened.

There was no sound, no light, no show, no…

Nothing.

Raynare blinked then, and she saw several of the Hexennacht members look about as confused as she felt. What was Davis doing? The man himself looked pretty confident even then, letting his hand fall and placing inside the pockets of his jeans, as if he hadn’t a care in the world. What was Project Winter?

“Ha! I knew they wouldn’t hold a candle in front of Master Hill!” a much younger magician exclaimed. “Show them, Master Hill!” he said then, after a moment, but the old man didn’t do anything.

It was then that Raynare noticed something about as odd as the non-existence of any effect in regards to Davis’ spell. The old magician, Hill, wasn’t moving. He wasn’t so much as twitching. Hell, looking closely, she realized that the man wasn’t even breathing.

And that wasn’t the end of the signs that something more was going on.

“Master Hill?” a female’s voice asked then, as the man grew even paler than he already was. The veins on the exposed skin started contrasting even more harshly against the white with a sickly dark tone.

“Interesting,” Raynare heard Davis said, pulling her attention towards him. “His magic is fighting the freezing, but it’s not strong enough so… His body is suffering from it,” the man commented, his tone about as dull and analytical as the explanations in a documentary.

Had…?

Had Davis frozen the man’s magic?

“That doesn’t look healthy,” the man that Raynare was now following commented idly, as one would the weather. Meanwhile, the old magician’s skin started turning ashen and the veins in his body an unnatural blue.

“Josh?” Davis – the younger, Jeanne – asked, her voice uneasy, disturbed. Raynare could fully relate. One’s magic was what kept them going as much as any other energy they possessed. Stopping it was about as bad as stopping one’s blood flow.

“Guess that’s enough data gathered,” Davis, the older, much more scary sibling, replied with an uncaring shrug before Cheshire smote the poor old bastard with a lightning bolt. “Well, what’s everyone standing around for?” the man asked them, making all three of the Fallen snap back to the action, reacting much faster than the now very worried and very terrified Hexennacht members.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

Hm, I have some doubts about this chapter, not gonna lie. All parts feel like they are a little lacking, but maybe that’s just me.

On another note though, we get another peek into the Season Projects. I’d appreciate some opinions on Project Winter.

Regardless, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: Now you guys know what Project Spring and Winter are. Any new theories for Summer and Fall?

See you.